Nama raises profit target after 2015 earnings soar 300%

Lifetime surplus target for bad bank raised to €2.3 billion

The National Asset Management Agency has raised its lifetime surplus forecast to €2.3 billion after profit for last year soared by almost 300 per cent.

Net profit for 2015 surged to €1.8 billion from €458 million in 2014, Nama said in a statement on Wednesday. It has been profitable since 2011.

The agency’s annual report shows that it generated €9.1 billion in cash during 2015, with €8.5 billion coming from asset disposals. The bad bank, created in 2009 to take over banks’ riskiest commercial property assets, has since redeemed more than 80 per cent, or €24.6 billion, of the senior government-guaranteed bonds it gave the banks to cover almost all of the cost of the loans.

Nama has raised its lifetime profit target a number of times in the past year, most recently projecting that it would reach €2 billion.

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"Nama has come a long way since it was set up," said Frank Daly, Nama's chairman. "The debate has changed dramatically from how much Nama will lose over its lifetime to how big its surplus will be."

Joe Brennan

Joe Brennan

Joe Brennan is Markets Correspondent of The Irish Times